Chennai Help

Thursday, October 27, 2005

They request Blankets, Sarees, Children's clothing and other useful material as donations. Stoves are a priority, to boil water for drinking.

Most of us are staying home and co-ordinating over the phone. A team of volunteers from the AID Chennai office, headed by Damu, is already traveling (through some of the safer roads by four-wheeler) and assessing the damage in some of the slums in Chennai, inspite of the heavy rains outside! We plan to focus on the following:(i) Immediate housing needs(ii) Basic relief - food and water(ii) Clothing requirements -- Sweaters, jackets, blankets, bedsheets- Children's clothes, both boys and girls- Sarees, since they can be used for multiple purposes in suchsituations (for ex: as screens for women in make-shift camps)

Rains stopped around 8.30 PM Oct 27th. Power supply was restored to Alwarpet in the evening. Today morning Chennai woke up to the good news that the storm has veered away towards Nellore, Andhra. The Chennai Corporation is doing good work. Almost all major roads are free of water, our storm drainage system must be good. The corporation workers are removing the fallen trees, clearing up the silt on the road and generally things look normal. This is what I saw in the city - Alwarpet, T Nagar, Mylapore, Triplicane and Parrys. From what I hear suburbs too are getting back to normal. The subway near RBI is still flooded so I had to take diversion from war memorial to Flag Staff Road. Sun is out, and Chennai is back to being hot.

This report, like all the other web and television reports, talks about the cyclone that will hit South India today and the disruption to normal life that is expected because of the heavy rains. But there are also tiny bright spots that need to be mentioned. The sun peeked hesistantly behind ominous gray clouds this morning and there has not been a drop of rain for the last several hours offering a much needed respite.

The water appears to be receding on some of the major roads and electricity was restored in a lot of areas last night and this morning. It looks like a normal Chennai day in October. Let us see what is in store as the rest of the day unfolds. For now, it is indeed a good morning.

Rain continues unabated in Chennai and surrounding areas. The depression is now located about 250km east/south-east of Chennai and is likely to move in a north-westerly direction crossing the coast between Chennai and Ongole tomorrow morning. Northern Tamil Nadu and Southern Andhra Pradesh will experience very heavy rains during this period with winds reaching a speed of 65km.

Update from Sun News - 3pm bulletin:=> Cyclone expected to hit the Chennai-Ongole stretch tomorrow (Oct 28) morning.=> Heavy / very heavy rains with heavy winds expected for the next 24-48 hours=> 66 dead so far in Chennai=> All schools and colleges closed=> Since this morning, 23cm of rain has been recorded in the city=> Low lying areas like West Mambalam, Purasawalkam, parts of Mogappair & Anna Nagar, Velachery, parts of Tambaram completely flooded as water enters homes and other buildings=> Several trees uprooted and roads blocked=> Chennai Airport runway flooded and many international and domestic flights have been routed to Bangalore=> Guindy Kathipara junction flooded - a minimum wait of two hours to cross over from the Airport to Guindy=> Railways cancels a number of outbound long-distance trains. Helplines are: 25383783/84/85=> Chennai Corporation Helplines are: 25381330, 25383783, 25384670

Other parts of Tamil Nadu:=> Landslide in Tiruvannamalai. Several villages cut off.=> Tiruchirapalli still recovering from floods - roadway cut off.=> Mettur Dam overflowing but inbound water has slowed down since morning.

The Meteorological Department's local weather forecast for today. IMD also has a toll free number 1600 180 1717 for weather updates (it is not clear how current the update would be though). The rest of the site does not seem to be updated with the latest details.

It is now almost 24 hours since rain started in Chennai. It has been a consistent rain fall, not much in intensity but without any let up. From the morning there is no power supply in Alwarpet, Teynampet, Adyar, Mogappair, Kilpauk, Royapuram and other areas. Telephones are working fine. Major roads flooded so far include TTK Road, GN Chetty Road, NSC Bose Road. All subways are flooded, suburban electric trains have been cancelled from the morning.